according to&nbsp;<div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/258509/etymology-of-linux-commands">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/258509/etymology-of-linux-commands</a></div><div>it says&nbsp;</div><div>&lt;&lt; &quot;</div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: transparent; clear: both; margin-bottom: 1em; background-position: initial initial; ">
The Unix biff cmd (announce arrival of emails) was named after someone&#39;s dog who barked whenever the mailman arrived.&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biff" rel="nofollow" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 119, 204); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-position: initial initial; ">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biff</a></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: transparent; clear: both; margin-bottom: 1em; background-position: initial initial; ">
Many other such interesting tidbits from the early days of computing can be found in The Jargon File.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jargon_File" rel="nofollow" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 119, 204); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-position: initial initial; ">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jargon_File</a></p>
</span></div><div>&quot; &gt;&gt;</div><div>but the text at the [[Biff]] article (see link above)&nbsp;</div><div>says, in part,&nbsp;</div><div>&lt;&lt; &quot;</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: -webkit-sans-serif; line-height: 19px; ">&nbsp;The&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jargon_File" title="Jargon File" style="color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; text-decoration: underline; background-position: initial initial; ">Jargon File</a>&nbsp;contradicts<a href="http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/B/biff.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/B/biff.html" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline; background-image: url(http://upload.wikimedia.org/skins/monobook/external.png); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; padding-right: 13px; color: rgb(51, 102, 187); background-position: 100% 50%; ">[3]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;(URL of that link =&nbsp;<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial; line-height: normal; white-space: pre; "><a href="http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/B/biff.html">http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/B/biff.html</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: -webkit-sans-serif; line-height: 19px; white-space: normal; ">)&nbsp;</span></span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: -webkit-sans-serif; line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial; line-height: normal; white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: -webkit-sans-serif; line-height: 19px; white-space: normal; ">this [...] but confirms at least that the dog existed.</span></span></span></div>
<div>&quot; &gt;&gt;</div><div>--&nbsp;<br><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Mike Schwartz &nbsp; </span>&nbsp;<br>Glendale &nbsp;AZ&nbsp;<br><a href="mailto:schwartz@acm.org">schwartz@acm.org</a></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 9:26 PM, Stephen <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:cryptworks@gmail.com">cryptworks@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Look up an old app called biff<br>
<div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
On 1/3/09, Nathan England &lt;<a href="mailto:nathan@paysonlinux.org">nathan@paysonlinux.org</a>&gt; wrote:<br>
&gt; On Thursday 01 January 2009 08:44:50 <a href="mailto:kitepilot@kitepilot.com">kitepilot@kitepilot.com</a><br>
&gt; wrote:<br>
&gt;&gt; First read the first few lines of:<br>
&gt;&gt; <a href="http://packages.debian.org/sid/molly-guard" target="_blank">http://packages.debian.org/sid/molly-guard</a><br>
&gt;&gt;<br>
&gt;&gt; Then jump to:<br>
&gt;&gt; <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/molly-guard" target="_blank">http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/molly-guard</a><br>
&gt;&gt;<br>
&gt;&gt; I wonder where Molly is now... &nbsp; :)<br>
&gt;&gt; ET<br>
&gt;&gt; ---------------------------------------------------<br>
&gt;&gt; PLUG-discuss mailing list - [...]<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; [...]&nbsp;My<br>
&gt; Pastor&#39;s son likes to push every button [...]<br>
&gt; one day, we found him standing next to the server pushing the<br>
&gt; button. We promptly moved the server up much higher. [...]<br>
&gt; ---------------------------------------------------<br>
&gt; PLUG-discuss mailing list - [...]</div></div><font color="#888888">
Stephen<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">---------------------------------------------------<br>
PLUG-discuss mailing list - [...]</div></div></blockquote></div>
</div>